"Oh, the secret’s out now?” said Hogan after today’s practice to a growing crowd of reporters. “I didn’t have any idea that was going to be on. I knew something was going to come out because they interviewed me last week. It was nice and it’s nice to hear those kind of things. I’m working hard out here trying to impress the coaches and impress my teammates. That’s all I want to do.”
Hogan remembers being given the nickname during the second week of camp, and while running back
Unlike rookie tight end
“It was cool. Seeing it on ‘Hard Knocks,’ HBO, I grew up watching HBO, ‘Hard Knocks’ and seeing all those stories that they do,” Hogan said. “People coming into camp were like, ‘You know, you’re going to be one of those stories, one year of football.’ But I wasn’t really thinking about it. It was definitely fun watching it on TV last night.”
It wasn’t all fun and games for the players that ended up being on the show more than they might have liked, particularly tight ends
Egnew and Clay were called out in animated fashion by offensive coordinator Mike Sherman during an offensive team meetin. Meanwhile, an unflattering critique of Wallace’s struggles to get separation from the defensive backs dominated a small portion of the 60-minute episode, with one coach saddling Wallace with the nickname of “ankle weights.”
“I mean, at the end of the day, it’s a show. That’s what they’ll do,” said Wallace, who moved up from fourth-string to third-string after veteran Chad Johnson was released. “It’s part of the show. People like drama, more than anything. They did it to Vontae. I try to come out here and get better every day. Whatever criticism the coaches have, I can’t control that. What I can control is my effort and my attitude. So I come out here with a positive attitude and try to get better every day, and just leave it at that.”
Wallace wasn’t totally blindsided by the criticism as he has had plenty of conversations with Philbin, Sherman and wide receivers coach Ken O’Keefe, as well as assistant wide receivers coach Phil McGeoghan. Some of what was shown on “Hard Knocks” he was not aware of, but he admitted he’s not supposed to know what goes on behind closed doors in the coaches meetings.
For Egnew, he was taken aback by the number of reporters surrounding him after practice because he insisted he did not watch the show last night. He also joked that he turned off his phone in case of any of his friends or family members tried to call him, so when he was informed of the Sherman moment, when Sherman claimed that if he was the general manager he would cut Egnew, the rookie took it in stride.
“Coaches are honest all the time,” Egnew said. “A lot of times what people see on TV is just a fraction of what actually is. Coach Sherman’s a tough, but good coach. He’s excellent. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I guarantee any player here can tell you the experience. That’s one of those things that happens a lot because he wants the best out of his players. It just so happened mine made the episode, and it’s okay.”
Clearly, Egnew, Wallace and Clay are counting on the trend of a different player taking the spotlight in next week’s episode.
